The Kingdom, the power and the leakage

All-Ireland SFC Quarter-final: Several words could be chosen to describe the state of Kerry's defence against Roscommon yesterday, but manager Páidí Ó Sé settled on just one: porous.

Normally that refers to minor leakage, but on the basis of conceding three goals in around 15 minutes - and several near misses - the meaning here is a little more liberal.

At one stage towards the end it seemed as if every Roscommon attack was goal-bound. It meant Ó Sé's satisfaction of taking Kerry to another All-Ireland semi-final was slightly tainted by concerns about the obvious need for repairs across the two last lines of defence.

"We did start very well," he noted, "but then all through the game I felt our defence was very porous. Not just towards the end of the second half. Roscommon did miss a few very scorable chances in the first half as well. So that would be a little bit disappointing.

"But I suppose our forwards, with the amount of possession they got, kicked up a good score. We'd be happy there. And with midfield, too, where Roscommon are very strong."

Clearly, though, the wheels started coming off Kerry's all-coasting performance when Karol Mannion slotted home Roscommon's first goal 12 minutes into the second half. From there until the end no Kerry defender was breathing easily.

"Well, normally our defence is quite good," added Ó Sé. "But after leaking three goals today certainly we'll be having a look at it. And I mean you would have to be disappointed with the manner in which we conceded the goals."

It meant Ó Sé was forced to adopt slightly more affirmative tactics. Darragh Ó Sé, for example, was kept on board for the full 70-plus minutes, even though he was clearly running out of steam.

"Well if things were going our way at the end we would have replaced him. But you need a player of his calibre when you're just five points up with four or five minutes left. I certainly wasn't going to take that chance anyway. Because if you leave in three you can leave in five. And it was important from our point of view to keep that experienced sort of player at midfield.

"But it wasn't that I was fearful the game would go from us. I wanted to be extra careful, and make sure we got past the winning post."

With that Ó Sé suddenly breaks into a smile before the feelings of total doom and gloom start descending: "Look, we're in another All-Ireland semi-final, and there are a rake of teams that would love to be in our position. I didn't see Tyrone yesterday but I believe they were very good. So we'll watch it on video and we'll take it from there."

But back in the dressing-room words like porous and leakage are still in the air. Goalkeeper Declan O'Keeffe takes the time to offer us his thoughts on the unnerving afternoon.

"Well, of course we're happy to be in an All-Ireland semi-final. We came up here to do a job, and we did it. It's just we did it unconvincingly. And they really piled it on, and created a glut of goal chances. That is a worry.

"If Tyrone get a hold of us in a mood like that we may as well forget it. We know all about their forwards, and the way we played at the back today is just not going to qualify."

And it wasn't just the number of goals that was annoying O'Keeffe, but the way they were allowed happen.

"Well, it was a bit of sloppy defending. They were well finished, but it is unforgivable to leave a man that amount of room for the first one. The second goal came from a passed free and, sure, that's juvenile stuff. And that does hurt your pride. But all the lads are hurting. So it is back to the drawing board for us all."

For Roscommon manager Tom Carr it's back to the thoughts of another winter's training, and the sort of work that might yet make this Roscommon team into real contenders for silverware. Carr is realistic enough to know that even three goals were not enough to balance out the Kerry forwards.

"I thought we were capable of getting another goal. But when we came to five points we gave away two very easy balls. And if we had stuck over another point or two at that stage it might have been a tighter finish.

"It just took us a while to get going out there; to find our feet and a pattern to our game. We missed a fair few frees and shots from play. So I've no great complaint with the commitment they've shown again today."